Join us for an inside glimpse of the core principles and implementation plan for a new State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) which has been advanced to the higher education and policy making community. The Presidents’ Forum, Council of State Governments, regional higher education compacts, and Commission on the Regulation of Postsecondary Distance Education have collaborated to develop a practical framework to achieve interstate reciprocity in the regulation of distance education.

Join us at the second gathering of the state chapter leadership attending the National conference to network, share, plan, and learn with one another. We will focus on various aspects involved with state chapters that will provide knowledge, resources, momentum, and energy to take back to your local teams. Following this session it is expected that the attendee will (1) have knowledge of the active and forming state chapter leadership, (2) resources and strategies that other state chapters are using to maintain and grow their associations, and (3) a stronger network of individuals that they can collaborate with.

Completing the authorization applications for many of the states is a daunting task. The session will attempt to cover some of the difficulties in completing the applications. There will be answers to general questions such as how does an institution go about getting a surety bond? The refund policies differ from state to state; what can be done? How much will a site visit cost? The main objective will be to help answer particular questions about specific state applications. The majority of the program will be a question and answer session for anyone

having problems completing applications. This session is designed for individuals in higher education compliance and legal departments.

A threaded discussion with vibrant participation is an exciting opportunity. Yet, such lively discussions occur less often than they should. This pre-conference workshop will engage designers, faculty, and administrators in understanding intersubjectivity within threaded discussions and how to design, facilitate, and assess for intersubjectivity within asynchronous discussion forums.

Winning proposals contain compelling problem statements that form the foundation for the rest of the proposal. Well-defined problem statements enable organizations to clearly articulate a proposed solution to be funded, develop performance measures that assess impact of the proposed solution, and convince the funder to invest in the proposed project. In this interactive and dynamic workshop, participants will learn how to develop a well- defined problem statement by examining and discussing real-world problem statements from actual grant proposals. In addition, in group exercises, participants will develop a problem-statement using problem- mapping methodologies and a case study. Participants will also learn how to develop SMART performance measures for proposed solutions that address identified problems in grant proposals, and how those link to required project evaluations. Using previously developed problem statements, participants will work in groups to propose a hypothetical solution to the problem statement, and develop a set of performance measures. Groups will report out their results for discussion in the larger participant setting. Information about best practices in aligning organizational priorities to those of the funder will also be discussed as a strategy for improving the likelihood of grant proposal success.

About United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA)
The United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) is a non-profit association formed in 1987 and is located in Boston, Massachusetts. The association reaches 20,000 people globally with sponsors and members operating in and influencing 46% of the $913 billion dollar U.S. education and training market. USDLA promotes the development and application of distance learning for education and training and serves the needs of the distance learning community by providing advocacy, information, networking and opportunity. Distance learning and training constituencies served include pre-k-12 education, higher and continuing education, home schooling as well as business, corporate, military, government and telehealth markets. The USDLA trademarked logo is the recognized worldwide symbol of dedicated professionals committed to the distance learning industry. http://www.usdla.org